When you think of Seattle fashion, somehow brands like Comme des Garçons, Robert Gellar, Odyn Vovk and Rick Owens aren’t the first to come to mind. But, when you walk into menswear store Blackbird, you soon find that you’ve stepped into a menswear style oasis in the charming Ballard district, and you’ll find these progressive brands and more are in stock. Recently, Denim Therapy dropped by to check out Blackbird’s Hazlewood jean, a limited-run (150 pairs each style) of straight leg jeans (in raw indigo Cone Mills denim, “Stolen” Black mid-weight jean, and indigo Japanese nep 13oz denim fabrications). Sales Manager Rick Moe says producing their own jeans was a part of Blackbird’s evolution as a full lifestyle brand. We have to say we’re both pretty excited and bummed that you can only get the Hazlewood at Blackbird stores.

Welcome to your morning dose of denim news, links, sales, and inside info! Catch up on what’s happening and browse our personal picks for the most interesting what-not that turns up during our morning web crawl. Got a tip you think we should include, a sale you want to share, or a style you just saw and can’t live without? Email us!

1. The Den.m Bar opened up last week in downtown Los Angeles, offering custom made denim for about $200. Everything is made on the premises and made from a choice of Kaihara Denim, Nisshinbo Denim, Cone Denim White Oak (from North Carolina), Kurabo Denim, and Canadian Denim. Image via the Brigham Yen blog.

3. Citizens of Humanity and Goldsign have opened up their gorgeous new 2,000-square-foot showroom in West Hollywood, California. Buyers might be tempted to hang out a little longer than usual, but we’re certain that will be okay.

4. NYC Twi-Hards will get to meet Kellan Lutz at Bloomingdales in the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, who will be present this Saturday, March 17 (2 to 3 p.m.) to promote the Dylan Georgeand Abbot + MainSpring 2012 collection. Shoppers who makes purchases through March 17 will get access to the VIP “Express” line to meet Kellan first. Location: Bloomingdales Roosevelt Field Mall, Menswear Main Level, 630 Old Country Rd., Garden City.

What happens when you expose spiders to LSD, Marijuana and pure caffeine? You get the most amazing abstract web patterns—the inspiration behind the Helmut Lang Pre-Fall 2012 Collection. If you’ve ever been unsure about rocking a pair of printed jeans, then the spider web art on jeans might change your mind. After studying photographs of these webs, husband and wife design team Nicole and Michael Colovos injected the web patterns throughout this collection. You’ll find the intoxicated web creations printed or as burnouts on the jeans. Could these be the new It Jeans? Helmut Lang clothing remains both hard with razor cut angles and soft with fluid draping; while, its range of skinny jeans and cropped, baggy drop-crotch pants, serve as the constant.

Starts Friday: Blackbird Ballard is having their semi-annual clearance sale at The Field House, featuring plenty of garage sale merchandise: men’s and women’s clothing, shoes and accessories new and used, books, records, grooming items, Filson, Pendelton, and pretty much even their kitchen sink. Of course, we’re hoping they offer up some of their Levi’s Made & Crafted, Robert Geller, Simon Miller and The Stronghold jeans they carry (fingers crossed).

Location:
The Field House
5465 Leary Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107

Hours:
7/15 to 7/17 (8 a.m. to 7 p.m.)

If you can’t get there, there’s a nifty sale going on right now at Blackbird Ballard online to take the edge off. A.P.C., Comune, Odyn Vovk, and many other hard-to-find and edgy denim brands are on sale now.

Just when you thought you’ve seen it all, avant-garde Milanese brand Ring brings us drop-crotch cropped jeans for the summer, as well as two-toned coated jeans which look a bit like denim cutoffs sewn together with another pair of jeans’ legs. Maybe it sounds odd, but to us the spring summer 2011 lookbook looks more like a rebellion against boring, everyday denim.

As progressive as Ring may be, the brand’s minimalist tailoring is quite wearable even for the less adventurous, thanks to the lack of distracting, superficial design. Ring’s Founder Selene Busatta launched Ring Milano in 2004, originally set out to rework classic pieces into avant-garde works of art that is open to interpretation, made individual through one’s own styling choices. We were, of course, also impressed with the men’s and women’s denim, which exhibits deep, three-dimensional whiskering, honeycombing and tasteful additions of “dirty” wash, which stretches the ideals of avant-garde fashion, often seen as zen and clean.